Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Pesto greeting the guests.

Ugly dry cakes. But hey, Matteo was impressed!

A rainbow colored costume party with $20.00 worth of decor (streamers and balloons.) Really good food (salmon and chicken kabobs from Grill Hut). Red wine served at 10:30am with no shame. No games, favors or planned activities whatsoever, except the awesome balloon artist who kept everyone entertained (my one and only splurge). My paleo cakes came out a little dry and ugly, but that's alright.

wake up birthday boy! the party's already begun!

It was the best party I've ever thrown. Know why? Because I've finally learned the key to throwing parties, at least for an HSP like myself. Parties are about relationships. Just being festive with family and friends. A chance for doting aunties and grandmas to snuggle with the birthday boy and celebrate his first year of life. Parties should not be stressful. Not for anyone, especially the birthday boy. Even Matteo had a blast!

I felt like such a rebel! Like a total bada$$. As someone who used to make events beautiful for a living, it's not easy for me to throw out all the high expectations of what makes a "good" party. But I've changed so much in the last few years. My home and my life are so much simpler, so why shouldn't my parties be? I suddenly felt united with the mothers of yesteryear. Those moms who just slapped up some streamers, blew up a few balloons, defrosted a Sarah Lee, and put out a bowl of punch. Those moms knew how to party.

I wouldn't have been able to do it without my awesome party planner, Sisi!!! She decided everything, from the colors to the food to the theme. She helped me bake the cakes and paint the posters. It was a great way to give her a little ownership over the party, which helped to curb the jealousy factor. After all, it's the first birthday party in the house that hasn't revolved around her. And even more importantly, it was a way to keep my hands off. My parties tend to start off small, and get crazier and more complex as they draw near. Sisi knew what was really important, so we stuck with that.

I've decided to throw parties every other year, alternating between Matteo and Sisi. Since both their birthdays are right around the holidays, I can't realistically do both. I will definitely make it easy on myself and let the kids plan their own parties from now on. They are way better at this than I am!!!